Faculty of Arts and Humanities

Exploring the human experience, past, present and future.

Our faculty brings together staff and students in intellectual excellence and creative practice, pushing boundaries across arts, humanities and sciences.

We advance knowledge and sector-aligned skills in areas such as heritage, architecture, literature, material cultures, visual and performing arts, language, digital media, and the application of AI.

Our campus and city offer an inspiring place to work and study. As an interdisciplinary community, we foster collaboration, innovation, and support for both teaching and research. Our work extends academic ambition and reinforces York’s commitment to being a University for Public Good, locally and globally.

Departments and schools

Our departments offer courses at all study levels: undergraduate, postgraduate taught and postgraduate research. We also offer specialist CPD courses.

A performance in the School's film studio.

Research centres

We are an interdisciplinary research community. Some of our centres also offer postgraduate taught and postgraduate research courses.

Find a course

Meet our Faculty of Arts and Humanities team

We're a robust team made up of heads of academic departments and faculty-aligned staff, including, but not limited to:

Professor Duncan Petrie, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Professor Rachel Cowgill, Associate Dean for Research and Director of the Humanities Research Centre
Professor Sam Hellmuth, Associate Dean for Teaching, Learning and Students
Heather Niven, Associate Dean for Partnerships, Engagement and International
Ros Roberts, Director of Faculty Operations

Meet the team

Our research

From our pioneering expertise in critical heritage research and conservation, to our innovative work in performance and digital creativities, we are internationally recognised for our research excellence and impactful work across the arts and humanities.

Home to the renowned Humanities Research Centre, we bring together a vibrant community of academics and research students as part of a thriving community. Collaboration and place-based partnership working at its heart.

Explore some of our key research projects and collaborations.

Mapping Africa's endangered archaeological sites and monuments

Working to document endangered archaeological heritage sites across Africa dated from the Palaeolithic/Early Stone Age to the 20th century.

Pantheons: sculpture at St Paul’s Cathedral, c.1796-1916

An exploration of the unparalleled collection of monuments in one of England’s most iconic buildings.

Heritage for global challenges

Bringing critical attention to how heritage is made, managed and understood.

CoSTAR Live Lab

Redefining the future of live performance.

Celebrating 250 years of Jane Austen and JMW Turner

Working with Harewood House on a major exhibition dedicated to the novelist and the painter.

Finding YorVoice

Examining atypical voices and the perceptions people make about them.

Faculty highlights

Here's a glimpse at what it's like to be part of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at York.

Through our history teaching and research, we aim to gain an in-depth view of the world. We're constantly striving to enhance our understanding of the forces that play a part in economies, societies, cultures, power and faith. We're also home to the Borthwick Institute for Archives, the largest repository in Britain, outside London.

Philosophy students can explore how robotics and connected autonomous systems can benefit people and the planet in the Institute for Safe Autonomy.

Public engagement is an important part of the work our staff carry out. We regularly speak at events such as YorkTaks, an annual public lecture series. The image shows Professor Lorraine Farrelly, Head of the York School of Architecture.

The Department of Language and Linguistic Science have many spaces to explore the study of linguistics. These spaces, such as the forensics lab, have access to specialist software and hardware that students and researchers can use.

The Department of Archaeology has facilities to study and research a wide variety of archaeological methods and techniques. For example, the YEAR Centre. Here, staff welcome visitors at student open days to the space.

Our teaching staff hold weekly supervision meetings, where students can book in slots. These one-to-one sessions are a great way to catch up on course topics or get feedback on work.

The Faculty has strong connections to our historic city. York is rich in heritage, with notable landmarks such as York Minster and Clifford's Tower.

Partnerships

We collaborate with a diverse set of business and academic partners across sectors to share knowledge and experience, and work to tackle challenges to achieve positive change. These range from local and regional heritage and arts organisations, to global companies, including Sony Interactive Entertainment and Vodafone.

We also have strong links with universities across the world. Current teaching partnerships include the University of Rochester (New York), Georgetown University (Washington) and Renmin University (China).